Shadow Day
by yourstrulyhope
Summary: Abby gets a little helper for the day... How will it go?
1. Chapter 1

"Good morning, guys!" Abby exclaimed whenever she passed people as she skipped through the hall of her beloved workplace. She stopped in front of the group of desks where her friends were and started chatting casually with the team, mostly talking about random things. While they were talking, Tony noticed a young girl standing behind Abby, looking out of place.

"It seems you picked up someone on the Metro this morning, Abs" Tony said, with a slight sense of curiosity as to why this was happening.

"Tony, you know I haven't been on the Metro since I got my car fixed!"She said, rolling her eyes. "And besides, she's my shadow for the day." Abby then pointed to the girl who was beside her. She had long, strawberry-blonde locks just a little below shoulder-length, which was waving softly off her head, where her bright-green-and-blue hair streaks were displayed. She wore a pair of worn-in skinny jeans to highlight her multi-colored hi-tops, and a t-shirt encompassing a funny saying like "just because you love me doesn't mean I love you back". Kate would have said she was about 13 or 14, because of the way she held herself: she was trying to look more mature but it wasn't quite working. She looked like Abby, at least an 80's interpretation of her.

"Her name's Hope. She wants to do exactly what I do! " Abby exclaimed, obviously feeling pride for herself.

"She's amazing! I wanna be just like her!" Hope added with a luminescent smile, reinforcing Abby's especially rosy cheeks and smiles bigger than usual, which showed how much she loved having that girl follow her around all day. Yeah, she definitely was her mini-me.

"She filled out some long forms, went for an interview, and took a lie-detector test just to come here and see what I do today." Abby said.

"Pardon me for asking, but what is the reason behind you coming to NCIS today?" Ziva asked, with a peculiar expression still fixed on her face from seeing the girl's distinct outfit.

"Actually," Hope explained, returning Ziva's odd look with one of her own, "I'm here for school. Since its the end of the year, I am required to follow someone with a certain career around all day or two, and then write a report about it for our final grade. I've always wanted to work in forensics, so a few months ago, my mom and I sent an E-mail to the director of NCIS and Miss Scuito to see if that could my assignment. After an interview, and nearly a ton of forms and tests, I received a letter saying I could come and shadow her." She then smiled at Abby, in turn making her smile also.

At that time, a man walked by holding not one, but two cups of coffee and had an expression of both anger and irritation. Hope felt a sudden burst of fear rush all about her, but opposite of her, Abby looked like she was _eager_ to see him.

"You two should better go- _she_ might make him worse." Tony said, conveying both his and the rest of the agents' thoughts. _For them, he meant._

"Bye guys. Come on, Hope." Abby and Hope then went towards the elevators away from the desks, since the team was probably going to get a case. " 

We should wait until things settle down before I introduce you. He's usually pretty nice to me… but I don't think today is a good day to spring something on him like this right now..." She casually explained to Hope, "But I promise, you'll meet him sometime." Abby smiled kindheartedly to her protégé. They approached the elevator and Abby reached out and pushed the down button. When the doors opened, they got in and began talking casually.

"Have I mentioned I _love_ your hair?" Abby asked the girl who eagerly stood next to her, riding the elevator. Obviously, she wasn't getting tired of Hope anytime soon.

"Well thanks Ms. Scuito, but these are just extensions. My mom would never let me have anything like this permanent." Hope let out a giggle. "She said 'no child of hers is going to be a traveling rainbow' so we agreed on this. But she makes me take them out for serious things like church, but I just never feel like me without them in so I had to wear them." Hope gladly replied to her mentor. Like Abby, Hope was feeling extremely delighted for the experience she was going to have today.

The elevator then stopped at the floor where the lab was located. As they walked through the threshold, hope's eyes lit up.

"_NO WAY!"_Hope practically screamed._ "THIS_is your lab? This is _AMAZING_! And these pictures?! I love it all! It's perfect here! Wow!" Hope stood in awe, though far from speechless. As this happened, another one of those warm fuzzies engulfed Abby as she saw the childlike amazement that she herself loved.

_This is what life is all about, isn't it? _Abby thought to herself, with a huge smile on her face as she and Hope started the day's work, _I could get used to this…_


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Abby, what's this?" I asked with a curious look on my face. I stared at a large, beeping loudly over the music and flashing a green light as bright as the spring leaves growing outside.

"Oh, that? It's one of my babies: Major Maspeck. I think the blood tests are done" Abby smiled as she skipped to the machine and collected the substance as the results appeared on her computer screen. She saw me staring curiously at the screen and let out a small chuckle at my "deep -in-thought" look.

"Um, am I reading this correctly? How does this blood have so much organic material in it?" I was totally confused; but then again, I wasn't a forensic genius like Abby.

"Nope, you read it right. It seems there's a mix of arsenic and…ethanol. Seems our petty officer was poisoned during his trip to the bar. " Abby was so smart; it would have taken much longer for me to figure that out, as compared to the few seconds it took her. I admired her so much.

"Okay, now let's look at the hair follicle found at the scene of his murder. You wanna take a look?" I nodded eagerly and checked the large screen. "See anything?"

"Well, I see a color difference, so that means were looking for a bottle blonde, probably with noticeable brown roots if they haven't already dyed it again. Plus, hair shows a history of diet and if they have had drugs. This one is like a traveling pharmacy; there's any kind of recreational drug they could handle in this strand. Also, there aren't necessary nutrients in her hair; if I was in the habit of assuming, I'd say we have a druggie-anorexic on our hands. " I calculated meticulously, making sure everything I said was right so that I didn't embarrass myself.

"Nice job, Hope." I cheered silently at the phrase. "Now, what about that substance they found on the floor where the suspect was found?" I nodded and headed over to the computer to see the chemical formulas.

The doors to the elevator opened with a ding, and that rush of nervousness and slight fear came back upon her when she saw the silver-haired agent enter with his no-nonsense look still plastered on his face.

The man's "Whatcha got, Abs" about made me jump ten feet in the air, and knock over the microscope. He smirked to himself at her jumpiness, but then he realized he was here to get information about the case.

"Well, _I_ don't have anything; _she_ does." I froze at the phrase, and started to spaz out when I got somewhat of an impatient look from the field agent.

"Well, um…" I stammered "the petty officer had arsenic in her—uh—system when she was murdered. Plus, we analyzed the hair found on her uniform. It wasn't hers, and whoever this sample belongs to is lacking essential nutrients, but in their place are drugs. So basically your murderer is an anorexic druggie. " I smiled awkwardly, hoping I didn't _completely_ fail.

But much to my surprise, I heard a _laugh…_And not one from Abby for that matter; a from the one and only_ Gibbs. _

"What's your name, probie?" He asked with a smile.

"Hope, sir" I replied with a blank look overtaking my face.

"Well Hope, I believe this belongs to you for the time being."Gibbs handed me a large Styrofoam cup filled with Caf-Pow, making my expression to become one of confusion. He then looked over at Abby in mock-disappointment, "and as for you young lady, I hope you follow her example for now on."He walked out to the elevator. "I'll send McGee down with the suspect's DNA for analysis and comparison."

The split second after the doors closed, Abby smiled at me and nearly knocked the Caf-Pow out of my hand when she tackle-hugged me. "You _totally_ just got acknowledged by Gibbs! That means you're part of the team! How many days of school do you have left? I wonder if Vance will let me have an assistant... Would you enjoy an internship this summer?" She darted over to her computer and started to type out an email to the director, both praising my day's work and asking if an internship could be arranged.

"I only have 2 weeks left, Abby. And I would enjoy an internship here for the summer" I beamed and started doing a happy dance with my Caf-Pow in hand; I was going to be working at NCIS!

:) I apologize sooo much for waiting so long to put this out, I've been running out of time to work on it, and since I write in my own notebook which is full of useless junk, I ran out of room while I was in mid-paragraph! But, review please! I love writing when people give me ideas to expand upon, and most of the serious stories I write never have full plot development, lol :P but I'm gonna try to focus on this story as long as I can, 'kay? 'Kay :) so au revoir, my friends and (have I said this before?) Review and PM me *waves and skips merrily down a woodland trail while still looking back at you until painfully hitting a tree* :D


	3. Chapter 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CAUTION: AUTHOR'S NOTE!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry, guys. I know I hate it when I see chapters of stories like this, but I felt like I would confuse everyone if I didn't put one on.

I am writing this to let everyone know that in order to keep this story concept going, I thought it would make more sense to make a new story. I really hated how I left somewhat of a cliffhanger, and this new story will make it better. I'm thinking it might be called Shadow Summer, mostly because I haven't thought of a better name yet . So, if you have a good idea for a name, or have any questions about the new story, please feel free to PM or email me. I should have the first chapter out sometime next week.


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